Icons demonstrates just how little None More Black have changed over 10 years. The rough-and-tumble Philadelphia band still straddle the midpoint between pop punk and hardcore, with vocal harmonies and inescapable "Whoa-oh" chants long having shacked up with curmudgeonly screeds and body-bashing instrumental firepower. Like its predecessors, this third album has a bunch of decent songs with a couple of standouts, "Backpedal" and "Iron Mouth Act." There are still silly inside-joke track titles like "Cupcake Wednesday" and "Sinatra After Dark" that have nothing to do with the actual songs. And Jason Shevchuk retains his ornery rasp while keeping those melodies aloft. Yeah, they've swapped some members and even succumbed to the shuddersome "indefinite hiatus," but all that has yet to make any substantial dent in their approach. None More Black honed their mode of attack ages ago, and it's stayed sharp — Icons represents æsthetic stability, not stagnancy. Rarely thrilling and far from innovative, this release nonetheless justifies the continued existence of the band's formula. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Bryan Ferry | Olympia From the Kate Moss cover pic to the A-list of guest stars to the reunion with original Roxy Music members Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, and Andy Mackay, Olympia screams, "EVENT!"

Rihanna | Loud Let's be honest here: the average human doesn't care about RiRi's need to express her artistic personality through music and would be more psyched if it were just 11 versions of "Don't Stop the Music."

Stereolab | Not Music Despite making their online announcement of an indefinite hiatus last year, Stereolab haven't exactly been sitting on their keyboards.

Nicki Minaj | Pink Friday When you're accustomed to being the coolest attendee at everyone else's parties, hosting your own can be tricky. And so it goes for Nicki Minaj.

Deadmau5 | 4x4=12 The world of the superstar DJ is not dissimilar to that of the superstar architect.

Converge go back to basics For most Bostonians of a certain age, Converge's Jane Doe (2001) is always going to be "that" record. But sentimentality aside, the metal/hardcore quartet's latest, All We Love We Leave Behind — out Tuesday on Epitaph — bangs right up against it.

Sun Airway | Soft Fall One of the more remarkable evolutions in the contemporary musical underground may be Jon Barthmus's decade-long peregrination from hardcore punk to the ambitious electro-pop of Sun Airway.

NO REST FOR BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD | March 13, 2013 Blackbird Blackbird's 2012 EP Boracay Planet takes its name from two sources: Boracay — a beach-filled, postcard-perfect island in the Philippines — and a dream Mikey Maramag had about the tourist trap, despite never having visited.

THE LUMINEERS AIM FOR THE RAFTERS | February 01, 2013 Jeremiah Fraites isn't famous — at least not yet. The drummer of the Lumineers, the folk trio who experienced an outrageously fruitful 2012, is talking to me two days before appearing on the January 19 Saturday Night Live, but he doesn't sound convinced that his band have crossed the fame threshold.

PHANTOM GLUE COME INTO FOCUS | January 23, 2013 Variations of "nightmarish" and "psychedelic" come up repeatedly as Matt Oates describes his band's work — which makes sense, given that Phantom Glue trace their roots back to Slayer, the Jesus Lizard, and cult post-hardcore act KARP.